For the first time in the United Kingdom, men are more likely than women to test positive for the coronavirus, reveals a study by Imperial College London and Ipsos Mori, published on Thursday, citing as a possible explanation the rallies for watch Euro matches.

Between June 24 and July 5, one in 170 people was infected in England and the number of people infected doubles every six days on average, according to the preliminary results of this study.

The higher prevalence rate in men

"We have noticed in the current cycle that the prevalence is higher in men than in women" noted Paul Élit, professor of epidemiology and public health medicine at Imperial College London and director of the React program, large study measuring the evolution of virus transmission in the population.

"Women are about 30% less likely to test positive in our study, once we adjust (the results) for other variables," said Professor Élit.

The prevalence rate is around 0.7% in males and around 0.5% in females.

"A social activity more important than usual" with the Euro

According to Steven Riley, professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial College, these variations in transmission are likely due to differences in social interactions.

“And because of when that happens, watching football may cause men to have more social activity than usual,” he said.

“If I were to speculate on the impact of the Euro, (…) I would think of the increased likelihood of people mingling indoors more frequently than they would otherwise,” Prof Riley said, emphasizing that the risks of contamination were greater indoors.

The last restrictions lifted

England are set to play Italy in the Euro final on Sunday, after beating Denmark on Wednesday, a game watched by millions of Britons at home or in pubs, like the five previous meetings of the selection in this tournament which started on June 11.

Despite a number of contaminations which continues to climb, around 30,000 new cases per day, and criticism from certain scientists, Prime Minister Boris Johnson intends to lift most of the latest health measures on July 19, including the compulsory wearing of a mask and social distancing.

To justify this decision, the government is relying on the success of its vaccination campaign, with more than 64% of adults fully vaccinated.

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